Jar closure



Sept. 23, 1947. THENER 2,427,819

JAR CLOSURE Filed Oct. 25, 1945 IN VEN TOR.

ARTHENER "wwgmflxu ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 23, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAR CLOSURE Arthur F. Thener, St. Louis, Mo.

Application October 25, 1943, Serial No. 507,624

2 Claims.

This invention relates to jar closures, and more particularly to closures for jars to be lifted from very hot water. For example, in the art of preserving fruit and vegetables, an ordinary procedure consists in subjecting jars and their contents to very high temperatures in hot water, and thereafter lifting the highly heated jars from the hot bath. One of the outstanding problems in this art appears in the difliculty of removing the jars from the hot water.

Prior to my invention, special tongs were employed to graspand lift the hot jars, but the use of such tongs involved careful attention to the gripping action, not only in lifting the jars from the hot liquid, but also in carrying the jars to a table or the like.

An object of the present invention is to positively eliminate these perplexing old problems, without resorting to complex, inconvenient or uncertain lifting appliances. More specifically stated, an object is to produce a simple and inexpensive jar closure having a lifting member for use in lifting and carrying the jars. A further object is to produce a device of this kind wherein the lifting force is transmitted through a closure member, without imparting shocks or stresses to the sealing member which forms part of the closure.

Another object is to accomplish these results, and at the same time provide a desirable efiicient seal at the closure.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention comprises the novel construction, combination and arrangement of details hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawings to illustrate the invention. However, the scope of the patent extends to variations and modifications described by terms employed in the claims hereunto appended.

Fig. 1 is a top view of a jar closure embodying features of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a section through the closure, taken approximately on the line 22 in Fig. 1, showing the closure applied to the upper portion of a jar, and also showing a lifting hook applied to a lifting member in the closure.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 1 illustrating another form of the invention.

In Fig. 2, I have shown the upper portion of a glass jar 5 having an external screw thread 6 at its top margin to receive a threaded band I. This band may be made of thin sheet metal and it may be corrugated, or suitably indented, to form the equivalent of a screw thread cooperating with the thread 6 of jar. A separate sealing cap, or

disk, 8 extends over the top of the jar, and a suitable sealing ring 9 made of rubber, or other sealing material, is located between the cap 8 and the jar.

The threaded band 1 is rotatable independently of the separate cap 8, and this band has a thrust member Id at the top to force the cap 8 toward the jar. This thrust member l0 may be. conveniently formed by a flange integral with and extending inwardly from the top portion of the band. It will be observed that the separate cap 8'is surrounded by the band I, and that the outer margin of said cap 8 lies directly between the thrust flange l6 and the sealing ring 9.

The specific details just described conform to a popular old type of jar closure, adapted to form a seal around the top of a standard fruit jar. However, use of these old type closures has been accompanied by the problem of lifting the jars from highly heated liquid, and so far as I am aware, the extensive use of such closures has not led others to a solution of the old problem.

The improvement herein disclosed comprises a lifting member I I (Figures 1 and 2) having oppositely disposed end portions integrally united with the thrust member N3 of the band 1. In Figures 1 and 2, the lifting member is formed by transverse bar members l2 intersecting at the center of the band I where they are integrally united, and having outer end portions merging into the thrust flange Ill. All of these integrally united details can be economically formed by a single piece of thin sheet metal. The top of the band I is provided with openings at opposite sides of the bars l2, as shown in Fig. 1, to receive a lifting hook !3 shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The sealing cap 8 is separated from the hookreceiving portions of the bars I2. For example, the top of said cap 8 may be provided with a suitable depression M to provide a hook-receiving space directly below the lifting member II.

The lifting member may be of any desired shape. Fig. 3 illustrates a form wherein it is produced by a single bar I5 extending across the center of the band 1' and integrally united with the thrust member It at the top of the band.

It will now be understood that the invention herein disclosed provides for use of a simple hook, of any desired shape, to lift and carry the jar and its contents. Aside from the safety, simplicity and convenience of this solution of a very perplexing old problem, attention is directed to a desirable specific condition as follows: The lifting force is transmitted from the lifting member I l or I 5 to an inturned thrust member at the top of the surrounding band, and thence to the threaded portion of the band which transmits the lifting power to the jar and its contents, without imparting any lifting stresses to the seal at the top of the jar. In other words, an element of the jar closure is employed in lifting the jar and its contents, under conditions which prevent the transmission of lifting stresses to the separate sealing cap 8.

In some cases, the lifting stresses may be rather severe, and it is desirable to form the band of inexpensive thin material. However, to increase the strength and rigidity of the lifting members, they may be pressed to form suitable reinforcing ribs. For example, in Figures 1 and 2, each of the approximately horizontal lifting members 12 is provided with a longitudinal reinforcing rib I1 extending into the inturned thrust flange 10. In Fig. 3 a similar longitudinal reinforcing rib l8 merges into the thrust flange It).

An advantage is gained by anchoring the lifting hook [3 at approximately the center of the band I. In Fig. 1, the bars l2 intersect at the center of the band, and the book can be inserted through openings at opposite sides of the intersection. In Fig. 3, the central depression below the bar I is relatively small, so as to confine the lifting hook l3 at the middle portion of said bar I5, where the bar extends across the axis of the rotary sheet metal band, thereby preventing undue displacement of the jar when it is lifted by a hook in said central depression.

I claim:

1. In a closure for a screw threaded jar, a circular sealing cap to be seated at the top of the jar, a rotatable sheet metal band adapted to be screwed onto the thread of the jar, said sheet metal band having an annular inturned thrust flange at the top formed integral with the sheet metal band and extending over the outer margin of said sealing cap to force the cap to its sealing position, and a sheet metal lifting member having oppositely disposed end portions merging into and integrally united with said annular inturned thrust flange, openings being formed at opposite sides of said integral sheet metal lifting member, between said lifting member and the annular thrust flange, to receive a, hook for lifting the jar, said integral sheet metal lifting member comprising an approximately horizontal lifting bar extending across the axis of said sheet metal band, the central portion of said sealing cap being provided with a relatively small depression around said axis to receive and confine the lifting hook in a limited area below the middle portion of said lifting bar, and the bottom of said lifting bar being separated from the bottom of said relatively small central depression.

2. In a closure for a screw threaded jar, a circular sealing cap to be seated at the top of the jar, a rotatable sheet metal band adapted to be screwed onto the thread of the jar, said sheet metal band having an annular inturned thrust flange at the top formed integral with the sheet metal band and extending over the outer margin of said sealing cap to force the cap to its sealing position, and a sheet metal lifting member having oppositely disposed end portions merging int and integrally united with said annular inturned thrust flange, openings being formed at opposite sides of said integral sheet metal lifting member, between said lifting member and the annular thrust flange, to receive a hook for lifting the jar, said integral sheet metal lifting member comprising a plurality of integrally united approximately horizontal lifting bars intersecting at the axis of the sheet metal band, the central portion of said sealing cap being provided with a relatively small depression around said axis to receive and confine the lifting hook in a limited area directly below the intersecting portions of said lifting bars, and the bottoms of said integrally united intersecting portions being separated from the bottom of said central depression.

ARTHUR F. THENER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 769,132 Graham Aug. 30, 1904 1,036,960 Carlson Aug. 27, 1912 2,329,128 Martin Sept. 7, 1943 320,580 Newman June 23, 1885 590,908 Pendleton, Jr Sept. 28, 1897 2,075,478 Taliaferro Mar. 30, 1937 2,160,430 Bulolt May 30, 1939 1,602,792 Baechle Oct. 12, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 101,134 Sweden Mar. 18, 1941 87 Great Britain Jan. 1, 1884 

